Kybrd Kleaning?

fightingfi

fightingfi

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 9, 2008
Messages
3,231
whats teh best wat to clean muh keyboard with all this nice crap in it plz :)
 
I usually just use a damp towel to wipe it down and some compressed air to spray out a lot 9f the trapped dust and gunk. Works ok. Lol. :D
 
Remove key caps, soak keycaps in soapy water, scrub keyboard and keycaps with soapy water, dry thoroughly, reassemble, realize you broke the keyboard cleaning it, buy a new one.
 
Be this a serious thread of not... I'm not one to pass up the chance to bitch about the keyboard industry when one presents itself lol

With how cheap they're made these days and how expensive they charge us for them... one has to take care in how they care for their device! I don't know if even using soap on keycaps is a smart idea, nevermind "scrubbing" sounding like a bad idea. Considering that most keyboards these days are backlit and do so to illuminate the key's value, and remembering they are "cheap", means they're paint covering clear plastic. Considering that our fingers can quickly erode away the paint on them, introducing a chemical (soap) and mild abrasive, along with a material which will be also abrasive, and you're just asking for removing the paint on the keycaps :(

I've really enjoyed my Thermaltake Challenger Pro, from a functional standpoint, but over the years it's sure showing its signs of use... :meh:
Tt-KB.jpg

If all you can make out is Q, Y, U and what might be J... your eyes are not deceiving you! lol

I did clean it once with soap and water and it started rubbing off the paint, so I stopped. I then used dry paper towel another time, and once again stopped after the color on the paper towel was black (from paint, not from being dirty heh).

So my advice? For keycaps: Pop them off. Wash gingerly, and only with lukewarm water (I wouldn't soak them).
For the rest, depends the kind of keyboard. Some are easy to take apart, and could have the case parts soaked to get any grime off. Otherwise, an old (clean) paintbrush works really well.

(And no, Thermaltake won't even answer your support email asking if they sell replacements, even if it was 2 years after it came out)
 
Formula.350 said:
Be this a serious thread of not... I'm not one to pass up the chance to bitch about the keyboard industry when one presents itself lol

With how cheap they're made these days and how expensive they charge us for them... one has to take care in how they care for their device! I don't know if even using soap on keycaps is a smart idea, nevermind "scrubbing" sounding like a bad idea. Considering that most keyboards these days are backlit and do so to illuminate the key's value, and remembering they are "cheap", means they're paint covering clear plastic. Considering that our fingers can quickly erode away the paint on them, introducing a chemical (soap) and mild abrasive, along with a material which will be also abrasive, and you're just asking for removing the paint on the keycaps :(

I've really enjoyed my Thermaltake Challenger Pro, from a functional standpoint, but over the years it's sure showing its signs of use... :meh:
View attachment 129375

If all you can make out is Q, Y, U and what might be J... your eyes are not deceiving you! lol

I did clean it once with soap and water and it started rubbing off the paint, so I stopped. I then used dry paper towel another time, and once again stopped after the color on the paper towel was black (from paint, not from being dirty heh).

So my advice? For keycaps: Pop them off. Wash gingerly, and only with lukewarm water (I wouldn't soak them).
For the rest, depends the kind of keyboard. Some are easy to take apart, and could have the case parts soaked to get any grime off. Otherwise, an old (clean) paintbrush works really well.

(And no, Thermaltake won't even answer your support email asking if they sell replacements, even if it was 2 years after it came out)
Click to expand...

I've been doing it this way for a very long time and never had any issues. Just use soft sponges and a heavily diluted solution of soap and you should be fine. Now using rubbing alcohol and steel wool.... definitely don't do that. Unless your keys or keyboard has soft plastics or rubber as part of the build, then maybe you need to be more careful.
 
elite.mafia said:
I've been doing it this way for a very long time and never had any issues. Just use soft sponges and a heavily diluted solution of soap and you should be fine. Now using rubbing alcohol and steel wool.... definitely don't do that. Unless your keys or keyboard has soft plastics or rubber as part of the build, then maybe you need to be more careful.
Click to expand...
I don't know. I just blame cheap painted keycaps myself. Never cleaned my laptop's keyboard (HP ENVY x360) and its S, L, N keys are totally gone and the E, C, M, D are heavily worn, with A, V, O, K showing slight signs of wear.

I'm not rough with my stuff, either, otherwise it'd be beat to hell and/or non-functional. My Razer mouse is from 2005, and aside from some aspects outside of my control (breaks in the wire, carbon buildup inside the switches, plastic wearing out), it works great. This keyboard works great as well aside from the keys being worn out, but I love its footprint (I game on the couch so it spans my lap perfect) and replacements on eBay are price absurdly, or I'd replace it. I had tried to replace it with a Logitech keyboard (model something-301?) a few years back and just hated it, and again with a $30 "Challenger Prime" cheap entry-model in hopes I could swap keycaps (sadly, different plunger design).

[Edit: Fixed some of those it-was-2AM errors.]
 
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Not the dishwasher because dishwasher detergent is too strong to be safe, and even plain water will drive moisture into places that should be kept 100% dry, like mechanical switches and between the 2 plies of flexible circuit boards that make up many key matrixes. Just remove the key caps and clean them with water and either hand dishwashing detergent or baby shampoo. Brush off the areas between the key switches with a hand brush (no Q-tips), while holding the board vertical.
 
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